In the New Zealand blogging realm there is a top echelon of bloggers who dominate the so called Blogosphere.
At least five standout from the rest; including the unofficial mouthpiece of one our main political parties.
A casual whip around of the main blog sites on a lazy Tuesday morning would reveal insight and biting commentary on the main stories of the day or in most cases of the hour.
This online community on closer observation often appear to be one step ahead of not only PR gurus but also news journalists and television big wigs.
There are many examples where careers have been derailed and political leverage (or sometimes revenge) are exacted by a blog author who has a certain agenda to push.
The amount of bias and political swing shown is at times as subtle as a freight train. It also fascinating to watch how stories posted on various blog sites unfold and develop as they are picked up by the mainstream media and even the political realm rehashed in the nightly bulletin.
Some major scandals and infamous news stories have started life on a blog in seed form and then gained greater traction as the general public has become aware of the issue, e.g. this
If you want to have varied and colourful insight on the news, blogs can often be a refreshing step away from haze and the smokescreen put up in the mainstream media.
Blogs can also be great place to gauge a quick reaction to some of the more controversial topics in the news and are useful to be in line to hear things quick smart as they happen, and get hints of some things as they are about to drop.
There are at least seven New Zealand blogs which anybody who is keen on getting the angles and the inside word on the news should be reading on the regular.
www.kiwiblog.co.nz
www.gotcha.co.nz
www.thestandard.org.nz
www.tumeke.blogspot.com
www.asianinvasion2006.blogspot.com
http://www.pc.blogspot.com/
www.nominister.blogspot.com
However a word of caution: they are not always reliable or necessarily come from a reputable source. This has been evidenced in several news items where facts were not been fully checked and news writers took what was alleged and presented it as news, leading to several embarrassing back downs.
Blogs have indeed made their mark on the media landscape and when harnessed correctly they can be very useful and most certainly a goldmine of opportunities for a company like us, where we can weed out the ineffectual and superfluous information and present clients with the important facts and issues from the blogging realm that impact them.
Jesse Killip
Broadcast Montior
Media Monitors
Jesse monitors NSW regional radio and is an NBR summaries editor.